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Attendees of the Miami Rum Festival and Trade Expo might be sampling some cocktails of a different ilk at the Cannabis Cocktails Seminar.

Warren Bobrow, mixologist, chef, and writer known as the Cocktail Whisperer is a freelance mixologist specializing in Craft Spirits and the implementation of specialty bar, cocktail and ice programs. Among his most popular books is “Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics.” Continue reading

Miami Rum Festival is once again host to the 2016 RumXP Awards international tasting competition with several dozen esteemed rum judges precipitating in the premiere rum competition, presenting prestigious rum awards to the best scoring products.

The event brought together a vast selection of rums from Sweden and Denmark, India, Reunion Island, Madagascar, Puerto Rico, Peru, Barbados, Mexico, Florida, Colorado, Louisiana, Texas, Hawaii, Trinidad, Guyana, Jamaica, Belize, Panama, St. Lucia, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, Antigua, St. Kitts, Haiti, Dominican Republic, The Bahamas and many more rum making countries, as well as Rhums Agricoles from Martinique and Cachaças from Brazil.

The distinguished panel of RumXP judges were sequestered for three days of blind tasting sessions carefully organized by the experienced competition staff before being analyzed and compiled by a veteran team of statisticians.

In addition to the professional RumXP judges, the Consumer Rum Jury, consisting of serious rum enthusiasts from across America and around the world, convened to sample and evaluate many fine rums for their own awards based on consumer preferences.

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On Tuesday, May 19, the Brugal brand of rum, an iconic spirit of the Dominican Republic, announced Brugal wins three Gold Medals from the RumXP International Tasting Competition held at the annual Miami Rum Renaissance Festival.

Brugal rum, the leading brand from the Dominican Republic, was awarded three new gold medals from the RumXP competition held at the recent Miami Rum Renaissance Festival.

RumXP Gold Awards went to Brugal White Extra Dry in the white rum category, to Brugal Añejo in the gold rum category and to Brugal 1888 in the premium aged rum category. Brugal XV was also awarded a bronze medal from the Consumer Rum Jury at the same time.

The annual RumXP Tasting Competition forms part of the Rum Renaissance festival and is among the most prestigious events of its type in the world, bringing together an experienced panel of 12 rum judges who conducted blind taste tests to evaluate the finest cane spirits from every region, every style and every category of the rum world.

“This year’s RumXP awards continue to add prestigious accolades for our other expressions, which are more readily accessible to a larger consumer base. Brugal has produced a family of high quality rums distilled, aged and bottled in the Dominican Republic since 1888. We are very excited to receive these RumXP acknowledgments and honoured to garner this respect from the rum community.”

With a current ad campaign promoting “Respeto!” Brugal certainly is gaining the respect of rum professionals and consumer worldwide. The company has been making fine rums in the Dominican Republic for more than 135 years. In 1920, the company’s first warehouses were built for the ageing of rum in oak barrels.

The company sells more than 80% of all rum in the Dominican Republic, is a leading brand in the Caribbean region and ranks one of the top selling rum brands in the United States. The Edrington Group took a majority stake in the brand in February, 2008.

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It has been another banner year for Plantation Rums, based in Cognac, France. The company announced today that their products were awarded four Gold and four Best In Category awards from the International Rum Expert Panel judges at the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival.

Master Blender Alexandre Gabriel announced his Plantation Rum expressions recently won the most RumXP awards at the international tasting competition held at the Miami Rum Festival.

Consumer Rum Jury Impressed

The Plantation 20th Anniversary XO aged rum also won a Gold award from the new Consumer Rum Jury in their premiere tasting competition, comprised of 20 well qualified rum enthusiast consumers, collectors and experienced rum travelers, offering the perspective of the active and engaged rum buyer in their evaluations.

Plantation Rums have a unique identity

This unique brand of rums is produced in France, headed by Alexandre Gabriel, Proprietor of Maison Ferrand and Master Blender for Plantation Rum. For the past two decades, Alexandre has been traveling to the Caribbean’s best distilleries to acquire rums that he believes will benefit from further aging in Cognac barrels at his facility in France.

Each rum in the Plantation Rum portfolio is made according to its country’s traditional technique and expresses the rum characteristics and flavor of its country of origin. While the rums are born in the traditional fashion, produced in rum distilleries and aged in barrels in the tropical sun, they undergo a unique aging process not used by any other rum producer in the industry — the rums are plucked from their country of origin at just the right moment and brought to the Ferrand estate in France where they are refined for several more months in small French oak Ferrand barrels. These special Plantation Rums that make up the portfolio are either blends or vintages and come from Barbados, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama and Trinidad.

Some of these special vintage bottles are considered by rum enthusiasts around the world to be highly collectable items.

“It’s such an honor that our rums would be considered among the very best in the world by this esteemed group of RumXP judges,” said Alexandre Gabriel. “The Plantation brand is enjoying steady growth in North America thanks to our team of seasoned professionals, a growing appreciation of our expanding range of unique aged rums and this type of consistent recognition by leading rum experts of the world.”